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The Race to the Finish

Rob Howard / 04.12.2008

On the last night of the race teams completed the long mountain biking stage which took them into the Sintra National Park, perhaps the best known in Portugal. The region of mountains and wild coastal scenery has been used as a cool summer residence by the rich and the royals of Lisbon for centureis and is a popular outing from the capital, but the racers did not get to see it as its best. While in the mountains they saw nothing at all as low cloud obscured all views, including the one down into Cascais where the finish lay.

Through the morning teams left their bikes and set off on the final trekking stage, which took them along the coast, over cliffs studded with inaccessible beaches and through small coastal towns and villages. Polish team Suunto Navigator were the first to set off, and race leaders Oudoor Experiences (who used to race as La Cluasz) left at 06.30, having gained all the mandatory CP’s on the long ride to maintain their lead.

The route took them southwards now, on the final part of their long circuit around Lisbon, with a brief foray inland to CP90. There was one final ropes stage at CP93, a via ferrata which only two of the team had to complete. The cliffs here were high and the route took them downwards then traversed onto a rock face overhanging a large sea cave and an isolated cove. Once the CP was collected the route was reversed and the teams set off inland to the mountains of Sintra, aiming for the Peninha Monastery.

By now some teams were limping along, just hoping to survive to the finish. Buff Coolmax were having the hardest time of all and Anne Simon was limping badly on a very badly swollen ankle while Greg McHale carried two packs. Outdoor Experiences were moving slowly, and had been worried since the early stages of the race about their female racer, Emanuelle Zanders, but she was coping well and for them the race was almost won. They could miss the final 4 mandatory checkpoints and still win, but were not sure of this and aimed to complete them all. They said they were moving at around 4km/hour now.

As they climbing into the hills they gradually entered the clouds and visibility decreased significantly. Huge rounded boulders loomed out of the mists as teams found their way to the monastery, though it wasn’t even visible from the nearby checkpoint, the mist was so thick.

Here they switched to wheels for the remainder of the race – starting with the downhill trikkes provided. As most teams had used inline skates up to now, this was a new and uneasy experience for the majority of the competitors as the trundled down into the fog, gripping the brakes tightly to control their speed. It was only a short downhill however, and their bikes were waiting at the bottom for the final stage of the race.

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